origin

The origin of stringed instruments can be traced back to ancient times. Music historians hold various views on the origin of the violin, some believe it originated in ancient Greece, some believe it originated in North Africa, some believe it originated in India, and some believe it originated in Western Europe.

In ancient Greek legend, the favorite instrument played by the god Apollo was the Lyra. The lyre looks somewhat similar to a harp in appearance, with a string stretched on the resonance box and played with fingers to produce sound. It is commonly used for poetry recitation music. Many experts believe that the lyre is the ancestor of many modern string instruments such as violin, harp, guitar, etc. The ancient Greek lyre should be classified as a plucked string instrument according to its category, and was not played with a bow.

The playing method of bowstring plucking is generally believed to have been invented by Asians. Legend has it that 5000 years ago in Sri Lanka, a ruler named Ravenna hollowed out cylindrical wood to create a stringed instrument called Ravenna dragon. This instrument spread to various parts of the world through trade and gradually evolved into various string instruments. Indians and Persians are accustomed to raising horses as livestock, so they use ponytails as raw materials to make bow hair locally. For example, Kemangeh in Persia uses ponytails as bow hair, wood as bow rods, and strings installed on circular resonance boxes to produce sound through the pressing contact between the bow and strings.

The Egyptian stringed instrument Rebab, the Moorish Rebec, and other instruments went further than the Persian Kemange by innovating and exploring the shape of the resonance box, making it into various forms such as trapezoids or ellipses, and attempting to open holes on the panel of the resonance box to play with bows pulling strings. The instrument used by the Germanic people, the Cruth, further added a fingerboard and a qin horse, with holes on both sides of the qin horse, and explored and practiced the curved resonance box shape. These attempts have brought instrument making techniques one step closer to modern violins.

On the basis of the above instruments, Germans further improved the position and shape of the body and fingerboard, producing the Geigen Rubeben violin, which achieved standing performance of the violin. The British and French also made a six stringed instrument called the Troubabure, as well as the popular Vielle in Europe. Italians used this as a model and attempted to create various shapes of musical instruments, producing various derivative versions of the ancient violin (Viol), ultimately giving birth to the masterpiece of modern violin. Later on, the renowned French qin maker Fran ç ois Turt further improved the bow, resulting in the common bow style we see today.